1939 Mercury Town Sedan
Rear-hinged back doors on a four-door sedan were already a fading convention by 1939, and Mercury’s decision to retain them gave its debut model an oddly formal quality that distinguished it from the mainstream Ford it was built alongside.
The body, styled by Bob Gregorie under Edsel Ford’s direction, drew deliberately from the Lincoln-Zephyr’s vocabulary (longer hood, wider fenders, more rounded greenhouse) while stopping well short of its price point.
Mercury launched on October 6, 1938 as a 1939 model, positioned between the Ford V8 and the Lincoln-Zephyr. A base price of roughly $1,000 split the difference between those two lines by several hundred dollars each way.
Power came from a 239 CI flathead V8 (a longer-stroke development of the Ford unit, producing 95bhp at 3,600rpm) fed by a single downdraft carburetor and paired with a column-shifted three-speed manual.
The 116-inch wheelbase chassis used solid axles front and rear with transverse semi-elliptic leaf springs and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes throughout.
Total production for the model’s inaugural year reached 69,135 units across convertible, coupe, and two- and four-door sedan body styles.
Source
